


The Sorcerer's Cub

by ElisaPhoenix



Series: Supreme Family Chaos [79]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Baby Peter Parker, Celestial Quill, De-Aged Peter Parker, Gen, Harley Keener is a Good Bro, M/M, Mama Bear Stephen Strange, Oblivious Stephen Strange, Other, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange parenting Peter Parker | Supremefamily | Strange Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-09-18 23:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20321368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElisaPhoenix/pseuds/ElisaPhoenix
Summary: Peter comes into contact with more advanced alien weaponry, and it's up to his parents to help him in his new predicament.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the possible start of a multi chapter baby Peter fic a lot of you have been asking for.
> 
> Take place pre infinity war and before Harley and Diana.

Stephen was enjoying a quiet evening. Peter was out patrolling and wouldn't be back for a couple of hours, and Tony was out of town for some SI business and would be for a couple more days. None of his fellow team members were on the family floor with him, so Stephen was free to stretch out on the couch with some tea and a novel he had been meaning to finish. He was able to enjoy himself for a couple of hours, but then he got an alert from Victor.

"Doctor, Karen has gone offline and has remained so for five minutes." Stephen's AI announces through the tower speakers in his British accent.  
Stephen marks his spot in his book before setting it on the coffee table. "Do you know where she last went offline?" He wasn't worried just yet. Peter's AI had gone offline before and the teen had immediately swung back home.  
"The tracker in Spiderman's suit is still functional. He hasn't moved since Karen disconnected."  
Now _that_ was odd. "Show me."

Victor sends a hologram to the sorcerer's nanotech bracelet and Stephen dismisses it as soon as he figures out Peter's location. He opens a portal to the alleyway, and as it closes behind him, he looks around the seemingly empty backstreet. Peter was nowhere in sight. Just a few empty cardboard boxes, a dumpster that Stephen gave a wide berth, and a couple of loose bricks. Just as he was about to double check the location that Victor sent him, that was when he heard it.

Whimpers. Followed by a couple of sniffles.

"Peter?" Stephen calls out carefully and slowly approaches the cardboard boxes he heard the noise come from. "Peter, if that's you, answer me."

All he got in response were more scared whimpers, and Stephen follows the sound to its source, stopping dead in his tracks when he looks behind the boxes. Peter was there, but his condition was what had Stephen frozen. He was the size of a two year old again, and based on the sniffles, was acting like one too. He wasn't sure how aware Peter was of what happened, but Stephen had a feeling that Peter wasn't. Otherwise the boy would have found a way to call him.

"Peter." Stephen repeats as he crouches down to the boy's level and smiles softly when the boy finally looks up in response.   
"Mama!"

Sniffles turn into loud sobs as the baby launches himself into the doctor's arms, and Stephen reacts instantly by cupping the back of his head with one hand and rubbing his back with the other as he stands. At least Peter recognized him and that was a plus. Stephen didn't want to think of the nightmare of trying to take his son home if he didn't recognize him. 

Stephen removes the hand on Peter's head to form a portal back to the tower, and once again it closes and disappears behind him after he steps through. Now that he was in the safety if their home, the sorcerer could focus on soothing Peter. He was still crying and fisting the front on Stephen's shirt in a death grip, and fat tears were rolling off chubby cheeks and onto his shirt. He swipes a tissue from one of the side tables in the living room and wipes Peter's runny nose as he shushes him quietly, and the sobs taper off after a few minutes. 

The doctor tilts his head to check and see if Peter had fallen asleep, but instead found the boy contentedly sucking his thumb and laying his head on Stephen's shoulder. So Stephen continues to walk around the family floor in the hopes that it would help Peter fall asleep. The boy made no indication that he knew he shouldn't be a baby, so it was up to him to go through the recordings of Peter's patrol and see if he could find anything before Karen went offline.

"Victor, bring up the last ten minutes of Peter's patrol before Karen went offline, please." Stephen asks softly when he hears the unmistakable sound of soft breathing. The baby had finally fallen asleep.

Stephen maximizes the video footage in the hologram that Victor pulls up on the tablet and then moves his hand back to the back of Peter's head. He gently strokes brown tufts of hair as he watches the recording of Peter trying to get alien tech away from some criminals and then being hit by one of the beams. Last time Peter was turned into a baby by alien tech, it only lasted a couple of days, but the weapons in the video looked more advanced. That could mean that Peter could stay a baby longer than a couple of days.

Not that he minded. It was summer break and Stephen loved it when Peter was a baby. He admittedly had a bit of baby fever after the teen turned back to normal, but Tony took care of that with some fantastic sex. Not to mention the kinky talk.

"How long will it take for Peter to go back to normal this time?" Stephen asks.  
"Based on the weapons in the footage, it could take up to two weeks for the effects to wear off." Victor replies. "Would you like me to call your husband?"  
"Um...yes. Might as well." The sorcerer sighs as his AI calls Tony, and the man pops up on screen after the second ring.   
"I got a ping from FRIDAY. Is Peter-" The engineer starts fretting but stops mid sentence when he notices the baby on Stephen's shoulder. "Is that Peter?"  
"Yes, and besides the obvious, he's just fine. I've already looked into what happened, but Victor says he could be like this for up to two weeks." The sorcerer says calmly.  
"I'm coming home."  
"Tony...no. I've got this handled right now. You'll only be gone for a couple of days."  
The engineer sighs. "I can't leave you to take care of him by yourself."  
"I literally have babysitters at my beck and call, love. I promise to call you if I need you to come back early."  
"...alright. Keep me updated." Tony huffs out.  
Stephen smiles. "I'll send pictures."  
"You better." He watches Tony look up on his end as if he's looking at something. "I have to go babe. I love you."  
"I love you too." Stephen whispers just before Tony hangs up, and he fights down the blush threatening to creep onto his face.

Tony always surprised him with those three words. Just because he didn't say them as often as normal people did, Stephen never felt like the engineer didn't love him. Actions spoke louder than words. Tony was ready to drop everything and come back home to help take care of Peter after all.

Hearing those words was always nice though. Sure, it left Stephen flustered, but Tony was always genuine when he said them. He always looked the sorcerer in the eyes when he said it, and Stephen could feel his heart swell every time. 

"Perhaps you should get Peter out of his suit." Victor suddenly say and Stephen nods.  
"A diaper won't hurt either." The sorcerer says in agreement and climbs the stairs up to the master bedroom.

They had saved some baby supplies from the last time Peter was infantized, but it wouldn't last two weeks. He would have to go to the store and buy some more. At least clothes. Friday could order everything else. Stephen decided that the trip to the store could wait until tomorrow as he was leaning down over the bed to carefully move Peter from his shoulder and onto the bed. The infant whimpers at the loss of warmth (and quite possibly Stephen's soothing smell), but otherwise doesn't protest when the sorcerer moves away to check the closet for some baby pajamas and a diaper. There were only enough diapers for overnight and the next morning so it was a good idea they were going to the store.

When he walked back out of the closet, Stephen came upon one of the many reasons he wanted to keep Peter a baby. He was sprawled on his back, sleeping peacefully with a thumb in his mouth and his other hand gently gripping his hair. He must have woken up briefly and soothed himself back to sleep by playing with his hair. Which was good. Stephen was afraid that when Peter woke up and realized the doctor wasn't with him, he would start crying again. Peter was more attached to Stephen as a baby, but he wasn't really complaining. 

As gently as possible, Stephen removes Peter's nanotech suit with the press of a button and was relieved to find that both the baby and the suit were dry and clean. He had no doubt that the suit would fit Peter properly when he was back to his teenage self, and that it only shrank to accommodate Peter's new size when he was infantized. One diaper and a pair of Iron Man pajamas later (surprisingly Stephen was the one who bought them and Tony had loved it), the sorcerer was moving Peter toward the middle of the bed and laying next to him. It was late enough that he could retire to bed early, but since he wasn't quite tired enough, he turned the tv on at low volume. Stephen was lulled to sleep by his son's soft breaths and the unintelligible murmuring coming from the television, and both of them would have slept through the night if it weren't for Peter having a nightmare.

Stephen woke to him crying and was quick to pull the baby into his arms and gently shush him. "It's okay cub. You're okay. It was just a bad dream."

Peter grips the front of Stephen's shirt in another death grip as he cries into his shoulder, and the sorcerer carefully slides out of bed. He would have to do a bit more walking around to help Peter go back to sleep, so that was what he did as he held the boy's head to his shoulder. It took about five minutes for Peter to calm down, and when he hiccups through his sniffles, Stephen brushes his hair back.

"All better?" He whispers and smiles softly when the baby nods. "Ready to go back to sleep?"  
"Don't wanna. Scary."  
"I'll be right next to you." Stephen promises as he sits on the bed. 

When Peter refuses to let go of him, he has to maneuver them back under the covers in the hopes that the warmth between him and the blankets would comfort the baby. It did not. He just sat up and stared down at the comforter as he sucked his thumb. Stephen didn't want to turn on the tv for him since that would only make it harder for Peter to fall asleep, but he had to think of a way to make things less scary.

Then he had an epiphany.

"I have an idea Peter, but you have to lay down."

Peter looks over at him and studies his face for any trace of a lie before he hesitantly lays back down. Once the boy curls into the sorcerer's chest when Stephen lays on his side, the sorcerer conjures a few butterflies with a simple flick of his wrist. Peter relaxed almost instantly. Butterflies were pretty and not scary, and their blue color was calming, and it helped his son fall back to sleep within minutes. Doe-like eyes fluttered closed, one hand remained fisted in Stephen's shirt, and the other had a thumb in a small mouth that eventually slipped out when Peter succumbed to sleep. 

Stephen only risked a kiss to the crown of his head, before settling to fall asleep himself, making sure to keep a protective arm around Peter this time. Hopefully it would help Peter feel safe and protect him from further nightmares, as childish as the notion was that adults kept the nightmares away. Childish, but he believed it was true. When Tony held him during the night, his bad dreams were few and far between, but nights like these when Tony was away? They were more constant.

He just hoped they wouldn't plague him tonight. Peter needed him to be Mama Bear right now.


	2. Chapter 2

Stephen woke to small fingers touching his goatee and when he opened his eyes, they met brown bambi eyes that shined happily. That had been one of the best things he woke up to. A happy baby patiently waiting for his mother to wake up instead of toddling off and getting into trouble.

"Good morning Peter."  
"Mama, hungry."  
Stephen chuckles. "You're always hungry Spiderling."

He got up though and after changing Peter into a fresh diaper and dressing them both for the day, he carries the baby down to the kitchen. To his surprise, he found Scott standing at the counter eating some cereal while scrolling through his phone, and when he looked up he actually spit-taked when he saw Peter. Stephen merely responded by slapping Scott upside the head as he walked past him to open the cupboards and figure out what to feed Peter for breakfast. With the hopes that his garbage disposal of a teenage son was hiding somewhere in baby Peter's appetite, he pulled out some instant oatmeal. 

"So did you give in to temptation or was this an accident?" Scott asks before shoving another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.  
"Peter got hit by some advanced alien tech while on patrol." Stephen answers as he situates Peter onto his hip and holds out the packet of oatmeal for Scott to open. While he does that, Stephen starts boiling some water.  
"How long?" Scott returns the open packet to the sorcerer.  
"Possibly up to two weeks. Are you busy today?"  
"Aww...are you asking me out on a date?" Stephen levels an unimpressed look at Scott who shrugs. "No. Why do you think I'm up here?"  
"To steal our food and Peter's juice." Stephen responds without missing a beat and Peter perks up.  
"Juice?" Peter asks with a bit of hope in his eyes.  
"I got you Shortstack."

With his free hand, Stephen opens a small portal to the baby supplies up in the master bedroom and grabs a sippy cup. He hands the cup to Scott as the small portal closes and the other man fills it with apple juice. He dilutes it with some water and then hands it to Peter, and the baby drinks from the sippy cup while Stephen finishes making oatmeal. They didn't have a high chair to put Peter in so Stephen had to resort to holding the child in his lap and feeding him that way. He would have let Peter feed himself, but he wanted to try and avoid having food dropped on him, and by some small miracle, Peter was happy to be fed.

Scott sat in the living room and watched tv while he waited for Stephen and Peter to finish breakfast, and it wasn't a very long wait. Teenage Peter was definitely still in charge of baby Peter's appetite so he wasn't picky about the oatmeal _and_ ate more than Stephen originally thought he would. The sorcerer chuckles when some of the oatmeal ends up on Peter's face, and the baby tries to squirm away when Stephen tries to clean him off with a napkin.

"Peter, hold still. Your face is a mess!" 

Stephen sighs as the boy continues to squirm and he takes him over to the sink where he sets Peter on the counter and wets a paper towel. A dry napkin probably didn't feel good on Peter's sensitive skin, so he figured that maybe a wet paper towel would be more easily accepted. The baby didn't squirm as much this time around, only when the doctor had to scrub a little bit at drier pieces of cereal. Once Peter was oatmeal free, Stephen takes him back up to the master bedroom and changes him into a clean diaper before he dresses him in what little clothes they had for him. His hands started to shake afterwards though and he glared at them, mentally demanding them to stop because he still had to get dressed himself and Peter wasn't likely to let Scott hold him. 

"Mama hurt?" Peter asks from his sitting position on the bed.  
Stephen forces a smile he didn't feel. "No cub. Now you stay right there while I get dressed."

Peter waits patiently on the bed while Stephen get a dressed, the sorcerer of course keeping one eye on the baby at all times, and then picking him up once he finishes. The sorcerer eyes him curiously when Peter wraps his arms around Stephen's neck, and then drops his arms from under Peter to test his theory. When the baby remains on his hip with no effort of any kind, it proved that Peter still had his powers. That would help Stephen immensely in the future what with his hands not being strong enough to hold the baby all day.

He just hoped Peter didn't figure out he could climb on the walls too.

"Ready to go to the store Spiderling?"  
"Yup!"

Stephen smiles and hooks one arm under Peter, and then grabs his phone, wallet, and sling ring as he walks out of the master bedroom and down to the living room. He creates a portal to the nearest Target and motions to it with his head when he looks at Scott. The man turns off the television and follows the sorcerer through it and they turn around the corner from the side of the building to the front and walk inside. It was still a bit early on a weekday, so there weren't many people shopping, but it wouldn't have really mattered. He and Scott weren't as significant as the some other members of the team and Stephen was just fine with that. He could take his time getting Peter what he needed for the next couple of weeks without being swarmed.

"So are we splitting up and making this go faster or what?" Scott asks as Stephen retrieves a cart and deposits Peter into the seat.  
"Here." The sorcerer conjures up a list and hands it over to the thief. "You're an experienced parent. Go get these and some diapers for a two year old."  
Scott looks Peter over. "Isn't he at that age where you can start potty training him?"  
"I'm not going to bother when this is only going to last a couple of weeks."   
"Diapers can get expensive."  
Stephen raises an eyebrow at Scott. "I'm married to a billionaire."  
"Fair."  
"I'll be in the children's section." The sorcerer informs the other man as he walks over to the children's section and over to the clothes.

He had to double check the tags on the clothes Peter was currently wearing before he looked at anything, and he threw a few extra sets of summer clothes into the cart while simultaneously taking things from Peter that the baby managed to get a hold of. It was mostly just clothes and they were returned to the racks without much trouble, but then Stephen took him down the toy aisle. 

Brown eyes widen in awe and delight at the vast assortment of toys, and the sorcerer allowed him to pick a few toys since teenage Peter didn't own anything suitable for young children. To Stephen's surprise, Peter only picked out about four toys, and just when he was about to leave the aisle, the baby suddenly screeched happily.

"Bear!" Peter points up to a higher shelf and Stephen looks up to find a fluffy brown teddy bear that was almost as big as the baby himself. "Please Mama?"  
Stephen smiles softly and reaches up to grab the stuffed toy. "Well, since you asked so nicely."

Peter giggles and cuddles the bear as soon as the doctor hands it to him, and Stephen looks back up when stuff gets thrown into the cart. He stares at the variety of items that Scott had just dumped into it and then looks up at the thief.

"Three boxes of diapers?"  
Scott points at the sorcerer. "Trust me Mama Bear. You'll thank me later. You're better off over prepared than sending one of us off in the middle of the night for more."

Stephen shrugs, not about to argue with that logic and they make their way to the registers. The cashier seemed to study Stephen as she rang up their purchases, maybe trying to figure out why he looked so familiar, but then she saw the ring on the doctor's left hand when he pulled out his wallet and visibly deflated. She was actually checking him out and it would have gone completely over Stephen's head if she hadn't looked at his hand.

Scott managed to hold in his laughter until after they paid and went around the side of the building once they walked outside. The sorcerer kicks the thief in his shins as he opens a portal and grabs Peter who was still happily playing with his stuffed bear, leaving Scott to grab everything else after a hiss of pain. Stephen closes the portal as soon as the ex-con carries everything through and he sets Peter down on the floor.

"You stay here and play with your bear. Okay?"  
"Kay!"

Stephen crouches down to brush back unruly brown curls and gently kisses Peter's forehead before standing back up and helping Scott put things away. He very briefly went upstairs to put some of the baby supplies in the master bedroom while Scott kept an eye on Peter, but it was long enough for someone to step onto the family floor and make Peter screech happily again. Before he could panic though, a string of Italian sentences followed the happy noise.

"_Bambino!_" Tony was home, and Stephen stepped out of the room just in time to see his husband scoop up their son and his teddy bear to kiss him all over his face. "Where's Mama Bear?"  
"Upstairs putting some things away in the bedroom." Scott replies from the couch.  
"Daddy! Look!" Peter holds up the bear (or at least tries to) to Tony and the engineer grins.  
"Who got that for you?"  
"Mama!" The baby answers with a smile and Stephen walks down the stairs to join them.  
"I thought you had meetings until tomorrow?" He asks after Tony pecks him on the cheek.  
"I did...but then I decided that I wanted to enjoy my baby as a baby while I can." Tony sets Peter back down on the floor and takes off his sunglasses. "You just get back from the store?"  
"He left behind a trail of broken hearts." Scott says with a cheeky smile and the billionaire raises an eyebrow.  
"He's exaggerating. The cashier was disappointed when she saw the ring." Stephen says with a roll of his eyes.  
Tony just smiles and pulls him into a proper kiss. "That's right. You're _my_ wife and Peter is my--" He looks down at their son and finds the baby leaning against his teddy bear and rubbing his eyes. "He's apparently my very sleepy baby."  
Stephen smiles. "Your turn."  
"Giving up the baby willingly? Who are you?" His husband asks with mock surprise.  
"I'm not. I'm joining your nap that I know you're going to take with him."  
"Don't break anything Thumbelina." Tony says as he once again picks up Peter, getting a 'no promises' in response from Scott. "Nap time _ragazzino_."

Stephen leans over to pick up the teddy bear that their dozing child had dropped, and he follows his husband back up to the bedroom. Stephen cuddles with Peter on the bed while Tony changes into more suitable clothes for lounging at home, and the elder man joins them on the other side of the baby. He turns on the tv as Stephen curls into his side with Peter, and gently cards his hand through the sorcerer's hair.

"Tired _tesoro_?"  
Stephen hums quietly. "No. It's like you said. I'm just enjoying our baby while he's a baby."  
"He's a cute baby." Tony whispers as the younger lays his head on his shoulder. 

Although Stephen wasn't tired, he still fell asleep to Tony's ministrations, and the engineer had dozed off with his arm around the doctor. Peter safely nestled between them with his teddy bear and a thumb in his mouth.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied. This is post Endgame.

When Stephen woke from their nap, he almost immediately jolted into a sitting position when he felt himself pressed up against Tony's side. That was usually normal and something he would enjoy for a few minutes, but he was very aware that he _shouldn't_ be this close to Tony. There was a baby missing. A baby and his teddy bear, and it sent Stephen flying off the bed and startling Tony awake in the process. He looks around the room wildly as Tony blinks himself to further awareness and then stops when his husband reaches out and firmly grabs his wrist.

"Babe, what's going on?" Tony asks tiredly.  
"Peter is missing. He wasn't on the bed when I woke up and I don't see him anywhere-" 

Stephen covers his mouth with his free hand and Tony looks down at the bed where Peter had previously been. His head snaps back up to meets Stephen's worried gaze with his own and he drops the sorcerer's hand as he jumps off the bed himself and stumbles to the bedroom door. It was partway open which was a sign that Peter had left the room (and Stephen mentally kicked himself for not noticing sooner), and they pull it open all the way and lean over the railing to look down to the floor below. The sight that met them instantly had the air in their lungs coming out in a relieved woosh. Scott was dozing on the couch, but Steve was on another, drawing on a sketchpad and Bucky was on the floor with Peter. The winter soldier was laying on his side with his head propped on his flesh arm as he watched tv, and Peter sat in front of him with magnets laying around him on the floor as well as attached to Bucky's metal arm.

Tony rubs his eyes as he and Stephen descend the stairs to join them. "How long has he been down here?"  
Steve looks up at him before motioning toward the dozing thief with his pencil. "About an hour. Scott was helping him down the stairs when we came up."  
Peter looks up from Bucky's arm and smiles up at his parents. "Hi Daddy!"  
It was such an innocent greeting, but it was so genuine that it had both Tony and Stephen melting. "Hi baby. Are you hungry?"  
"No." Peter says as he looks back to the metal arm and Bucky looks up at them while the baby goes back to sticking magnets on them with giggles.  
"I made him a snack when Steve and I came up." The former soldier informs them. "Crackers, a little bit of fruit...that kind of stuff."

Stephen and Tony nod and sit on the third couch to watch tv. The snack would only tide Peter over for a little while, but Bucky could be roped into making lunch for them when he got hungry again. _Dinner_, Stephen thinks to himself when he notices the time. He and Tony had taken a longer nap then they had planned. It wasn't like they really needed it either. So far Peter was being a wonderfully behaved baby (he knew a tantrum would happen in the future though), and he only woke up once during the night because of the nightmare. It must have been stress for Tony and residual magical exhaustion for Stephen.

When it got closer to dinner, the team came up to the penthouse one after the other and every single one of them stopped to stare at Peter. It was followed by a suspicious glance in Stephen's direction who had to repeat himself multiple times that 'No. I didn't do that. It was alien tech.' that it was starting to wear on him. Tony thought it was hilarious and told him that they weren't exactly wrong to suspect the sorcerer since he was obsessed with baby Peter. The baby that was currently being swaddled by Levi since Bucky had gotten up just a little bit ago to start dinner.

Peter was sucking his thumb and cuddling with his teddy bear while he watched tv, and periodically glanced into the kitchen when a certain noise caught his attention. Natasha had tried to pick up the baby but Levi wasn't having it. It smacked her away until she gave up and went to sit at the island counter to sample bits of dinner. Stephen turned to a book shortly after Bucky got up and Tony grabbed a tablet.

"Mama." 

Peter looks at Stephen and holds his arms out, and the sorcerer gets up to retrieve the baby with a smile. As soon as Stephen takes Peter from the cloak, Levi unfurls itself to float next to its master and the doctor smacks it away when it raises an end to fuss at the baby.

"Stop that." Stephen scolds and Levi puffs up before returning to it's usual corner in the living room to sulk.  
"Aww. Share the baby Mama Bear." Natasha says with a teasing coo.   
Stephen looks at her pointedly when Peter wraps his arms around the sorcerer's neck tighter. "Even if I wanted to, I can't."  
Sam raises an eyebrow from his seat at the table. "You just don't want to."  
"_No._ I actually can't." To prove his point, he drops both arms from Peter to show how tightly the baby was gripping onto him.  
Clint laughs. "Here I thought Tony was overexxagerating about needing to use a crowbar."  
Tony snorts from the couch. "No. Not about that. Peter is a Mama's boy."

The elevator opens behind Stephen, and Quill enters with Cassie, Harley, and Diana. Sam grins when the adult walks over to the still dozing Scott and moves his legs long enough to sit on the couch. Scott grumbles in his sleep and rolls onto his side to face the couch and Quill pats his legs with a smirk as the kids approach Stephen to see what the sorcerer is holding. Harley bursts into laughter when he sees the baby, Cassie's eyes widen, and Diana giggles.

"When did this happen?!" Harley asks after he calms from his laughing.  
"Last night." Stephen replies as Peter clings even closer to him. "You were at your friend's house and Diana stayed downstairs with Cassie."  
"My boyfriend is a literal baby. I don't even want to call him my boyfriend right now because that sounds so weird." Cassie says with a wince. "How aware is he?"  
"As far as we know, not at all. He's acting like a two year old." Stephen says as Sam gets up and approaches them.  
"Hey kid." The man says to get the baby's attention and then points over at Quill. The space pirate was paying no attention to them, watching whatever happened to be on tv. "See that guy?"  
"Uh huh." The baby confirms.  
"He stole your name. His name is Peter too." Sam says with a grin.

Stephen smacks the back of his head (something Sam deemed totally worth it) when baby Peter glared as furiously as his little face could manage at Quill, and the outlaw looks up when he feels eyes on him. Sniggers echo throughout the floor at the look on Peter's face, and since Quill hadn't been paying attention, he had no idea what warranted the baby fury. He literally did nothing but sit with Scott.

"Why the hell is pipsqueak glaring at me?" The pirate asks, a little miffed.  
Sam cackles. "You stole his name."  
"_I_ stole _his_ name?! It was mine first!"   
"Are you seriously arguing about a name?" Tony asks, looking up at Quill from his tablet.  
"Bird-man started it--ow! Babe..." Quill grunts out when Scott opens an eye to kick his boyfriend in the gut.  
"I'm trying to catch up on sleep. Quit arguing about a _name_." Scott closes his eye again.  
"You might as well stay up," Wanda says and Scott sighs heavily. "Dinner is ready."

Everyone gathers in the kitchen for dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, most members at the table and everyone else either at the island counter or in the living room. Harley was too distracted watching Peter try to eat for a while, but that soon lost its appeal when Stephen helped the temporary baby. Cassie was pointedly ignoring Peter for her own sanity and helping Diana with her own food, and Scott had to prop his head on one of his hands to keep himself from falling asleep in his food. Conversations were random and happened between different people and it was all uneventful...until Peter threw a meatball at Quill's head.

For a two year old, he had quite the arm and hit the pirate's forehead right smack in the middle. Scott almost chokes on his mouthful of spaghetti at the development, but says nothing as he offers his boyfriend a napkin who takes it in silence to wipe the sauce of his face. Those at the table and that had seen the meatball fiasco, bursts into hysterics, and Stephen had to stop Peter from throwing a second one.

"No. We don't throw food." The sorcerer reprimands and the baby pouts. "Now apologize to Quill. He didn't deserve that."  
"No." Peter grumps and drops the meatball before taking his arm out of Stephen's grasp so he can fold his arms.  
"_Peter._" Stephen scolds and the boy only slouches into his seat.  
Quill clears his throat and puts the napkin down after getting an okay from Scott. "I guess he doesn't want to see some new magic." Peter perks up a bit and the outlaw smirks. "I mean...he's seen Mom's magic but mine? Totally different."

Stephen watches as Peter has a mental war with himself, and the curious toddler immediately wins when Quill moves to stand. Peter reaches out with sauce covered hands in an attempt to stop the bigger man from leaving and Stephen takes the opportunity to grab the filthy hands and clean them off. The baby shouts out an apology, and Quill raises an eyebrow before sitting back down and holding out one of his hands. White light swirls above his palm and big brown eyes widen as it slowly shapes into a small sphere. The pirate closes his hand around it and gives it to the baby until Tony and Stephen stop him.

"It's fine! It won't hurt him unless I want it to." Quill assures them and rolls his eyes when the couple looks at him skeptically. "I'm not that mean! I did like the kid before he was miniaturized."

Tony and Stephen return to their dinner as Quill sets the small sphere of light into the toddler's hands, unaware of the fond way that Scott was watching him. 

"Why don't you keep that? As long as I'm alive or as long as you want it, it will never go out."  
"Hey Porcupine?" Quill looks over at Tony when the baby thanks the Celestial, and the engineer points at the ball with his fork. "That's not going to cause any damage or hurt anyone else if he decides to throw a tantrum is it?"  
"Nope. It's just holdable light for him."  
"Bummer. I was thinking about taking him to one of my meetings-" Tony starts.  
"Tony, stop trying to weaponize our temporarily toddler son." Stephen interrupts. "That's something Harley would do.  
Said teen looks up from his dinner with an indignant look. "Hey!"  
Cassie snorts. "Don't deny it."  
"Yeah...okay." Harley relents.


	4. Chapter 4

"Boss. Peter is in distress." 

Friday's voice breaks through the last haze of Tony's dreams and he was glad for it. They weren't dreams, they were nightmares, and if his assumptions were correct, Peter had one too. The poor baby. It was bad enough he had them as a teenager, but he was even tormented with them as a baby and it was very likely toddler Peter didn't understand. 

Tony pulls his arm out from under Stephen as carefully as possible, a little surprised that the sorcerer hadn't already flown out of bed at the mere mention that Peter wasn't happy, but he was fast asleep. The only time he slept that deeply was whenever he and Tony had a nightly romp in the sheets and they had done that not three hours ago according to the clock on Tony's nightstand. With a sleepy sigh, he pulls on some pajama pants and shuffles out of the room and a couple doors down to Peter's bedroom while attempting to rub some of the sleep out of his eyes. Dealing with a fussy baby while half asleep was not ideal and he had to learn that the hard way with Diana. Especially since she had that phase when she only wanted Tony. Whenever Stephen tried to calm her, it made things worse and Tony not only had to console a screaming baby but also a heartbroken Mama Bear. 

Tony slowly opens Peter's bedroom door so not to startle him anymore and finds him huddled in the middle of his bed, crying into the teddy bear that was almost as big as him.

"_Bambino_." He calls softly and Peter looks up from his bear, and then immediately holds his arms out to Tony. The man quickly walks over and scoops Peter up and cringes at the feeling of an unmistakable wet diaper. "It's alright kiddo. Let's get you cleaned up. Where's that night light Porcupine gave you, huh?"

That was a good question for the next couple of minutes as Tony searched for the small ball if light. He would have thought that finding a literal ball of light would be a piece of cake to find, but it was being elusive. It must be buried under enough to keep its light from shining through as he was sure that Quill was very much alive.

Just in case though, he asked his AI where the space pirate was.

"Downstairs asleep Boss. Should I wake him?"  
"No Fri. Just making sure of something-aha!" Tony exclaims when he pushes aside a couple of pillows and a thick blanket to find the small sphere of light.

He hands it to the baby in his other arm who takes it with a wet sniffle and lays his head on Tony's shoulder, and Tony turns his attention to gathering a clean diaper. Peter only whimpered for a brief second when Tony laid him back down on the bed to change him, but as soon as he realized that his father wasn't going anywhere, he calmed down. With experienced speed, Tony changes Peter and disposes of the soiled diaper before moving Peter back up toward his pillows and laying next to him. He watches quietly as the baby holds the ball of light in his hands, and raises an eyebrow whenever it dims as soon as either of them look directly at it. Quill really thought of everything. He didn't want the light to hurt anyone's eyes if they looked directly at it, so it dimmed whenever Peter or anyone else looked at it.

"Bad dream buddy?" Tony asks quietly as he plants a kiss on the soft curls on Peter's head. When he nods, Tony grabs the previously forgotten teddy bear and places it on the ither side of Peter. "What was it about? Do you remember?"  
Silence hangs in the air long enough for the engineer to start wondering if maybe Peter didn't want to talk about it, until the baby finally whispered. "It was dark. Couldn't move. Daddy wasn't there."

Tony wracks his mind for the nightmares that teenage Peter had told him about in the past, and it finally hit him that he had a dream about the building falling on him when he confronted the Vulture. It was the one nightmare Peter didn't talk much about. Not even to Stephen. He just told them what it was about but never went any further. Now his baby counterpart had given him a very important detail.

_Daddy wasn't there._

Tony hadn't been there to save Peter. Granted, the teen shouldn't have been there in the first place, but he had been, and in nothing but a sweat suit. Peter was being crushed by tons of concrete and he had been _terrified_, hoping that by some miracle, Tony would know he was in trouble and come save him. Tony couldn't have known, but some illogical part of himself beat himself up over the fact that he wasn't there when Peter needed him. He had to dig himself out of his concrete tomb by himself, and go after the Vulture with who knew _how many_ wounds...because Tony took away his suit.

"I'm sorry baby...but I'm here now. You know that right?" Peter doesn't say anything except roll over and cuddle against Tony's bare chest. "...Daddy had a bad dream too."  
"Scary?"  
"Very." Tony confirms but doesn't elaborate.

There was a chance that teenage Peter would retain these memories and Tony didn't want a description of his worst nightmare to be remembered. It was the one nightmare he didn't tell _anyone_, not even Stephen...or Rhodey. It was much worse than what Wanda had shown him all those years ago when she was still the enemy. Instead of the Avengers though, it was his immediate family. Stephen, Harley, Peter, and Diana. Dead. His mind killed them in so many different ways each time he had the night terror, but it always ended up the same. He couldn't protect them and they always ended up dead. It was so much worse than the whole deal with Thanos and the snap because in his dreams he _knew_ there was no bringing them back. Even _Cassie_ had been among their bodies because she had become like a daughter to him in those five years he took care of him when Scott was stuck in the Quantum Realm. The Avengers were his family, but his immediate family? They were his life. His reason for living.

"Where's Mama?" Peter asks as he rubs his eyes.  
"Sleeping _bambino_. You're stuck with me tonight. That okay?" Tony says with a soft chuckle as he gently brushes away a loose curl.  
"Uh huh." Peter replies with a yawn.

Tony pulls the covers over the both of them, fully intent on staying with Peter until a little after he fell asleep. Of course his plans fell through five minutes later because he was tired himself and fell asleep with a protective arm around his son. That was how Stephen found them the following morning. He had woken to Tony's side of the bed cold and bare, and his first instinct was to check Peter's room. When he found Tony curled around the baby in his bed, the sorcerer had quietly closed the door and went downstairs to start breakfast. Diana was the first to wake up and she had been happy to help Stephen make blueberry pancakes, Harley was next and surprised the sorcerer when he saw Peter in the teenager's arms.

"He was coming out of his room when I came out of mine." Harley elaborates with a slight blush while he sets Peter in an empty chair.  
Stephen places a couple of freshly cooked pancakes on the plate next to Diana. "Where's your father?" He asks.  
"Sawing wood in Peter's room." Harley grins and Peter frowns.  
"Daddy's loud."  
"Let him sleep. Breakfast will wake him soon enough." 

The sorcerer turns off the stove and helps his daughter off the counter and they walk over to the table with a plate stacked with pancakes. Harley serves himself after Stephen serves the younger children and sets aside a plate for Tony, and leaves Diana to her own devices once he cuts her pancakes. Peter on the other hand needed a little more supervision unless Stephen wanted to clean syrup off of everything for the next week. Which he didn't, but syrup tended to get everywhere on a baby no matter how closely they were watched, so Peter would probably need a bath after breakfast.

"Babe, you better get your food before _patatino_ eats them all." Tony says when he appears in the kitchen and leans down to give Stephen a good morning kiss.  
"I can always make more."  
Harley scrunches his nose. "Why do you always have to give me some potato nickname?"  
"Because." Tony sits down and grabs the plate Stephen had set aside. "You were the one that threatened me with a potato gun, so now you get related names." He slips a couple of pancakes onto Stephen's plate before giving Diana a second one when she requests it. "How did you sleep _piccola_?"  
"Like the dead!" The five year old responds enthusiastically and Harley snickers. "I have a light like Peter's that Uncle Quill gave me and it turned into stars!"

Diana shovels pancake bites into her mouth after Tony cuts it for her, and Stephen eats his own breakfast subconsciously, still focused on trying to keep the guaranteed syrupy mess on Peter. Maybe the table. The table would be easy enough to clean. 

Tony grins. "Hey honey?"  
"Hmm?" Stephen hums in question without looking away from the toddler.  
"Have I mentioned you're a MILF?"

Harley chokes on his pancakes in surprise and starts laughing once he passes the danger of choking and Stephen looks over at Tony with a look of impassiveness. Diana thankfully wasn't paying any attention. Blueberry pancakes were more deserving of her interest.

"It may have come up once or twice." Stephen replies smoothly.  
"It makes sense." Harley starts after his laughter dies down. "Mom's always eat last. You're definitely a mom."  
"Whenever I get hurt, Mommy makes the hurt go away." Diana adds and Stephens eyes mist over when Harley agrees.

It was Peter that delivered the finishing blow though.

"I like Mama's hugs."

Peter had said it so innocently and with such a genuine (albeit a bit sticky) smile, that Stephen had to clear his throat and stare down at his plate and will away the oncoming happy tears. The kids went back to polishing off their breakfast, oblivious to how happy they made the sorcerer, and Tony just smiled in his direction when Stephen finally looked up at him. There was no teasing. Just a fond smile that nearly had Stephen looming down again in embarrassment. He had never been so glad to have been accidently called 'Mom' by Peter all those months (years to some) ago. Once upon a time, he was alone with maybe one friend. Now, he had _many_ friends, three kids, and a husband...and he couldn't imagine life without them anymore.

"What do you think will happen if I go downstairs and shoot Quill awake with my potato gun?" Harley asks and Tony points at him.  
"DON'T purposely piss off a god! Especially this early in the morning!"  
"Uncle Quill will kill you." Diana adds seriously.

_Even if this life is more hectic than it had been before,_ Stephen thinks to himself as he takes another bite of his pancakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italian words:  
Patatino--little potato  
Piccola--little one (female)


	5. Chapter 5

Stephen wanted to kill one of his cubs. The oldest one. The little potato troll. Harley. He wanted to kill Harley. Why? Because he gave his little brother sugar. Normally that wasn't a huge deal and Peter could go burn it off during patrol, but that was currently out of the question as Peter was a baby. It took five minutes if chasing the toddler around the family floor before Stephen got fed up and sent Levi after Peter, and the cloak happily caught the baby. Now, it was currently swinging Peter back and forth while Stephen sat on the couch and covered his face as he tried to relax. The swinging wouldn't amuse Peter very long, but as long as he was giggling, Stephen could rest. Harley of course was nowhere to be found after the sorcerer caught him giving Peter some cookies, but if he went looking for the teen, he would probably find him down in the lab with Tony.

"MOMMY!" Diana yells from her bedroom and Stephen groans quietly.  
"There's nobody here by that name." He mutters under his breath as his five year old daughter bounds down the stairs and over to him.  
"Mommy I can't find my crayons." Diana carefully grabs Stephen's wrists and pulls his hands away from his face to pout at him.  
"Did you leave them downstairs with Cassie?" He asks her softly and Dia shrugs.  
"I don't know...but I dont know if it's okay to go downstairs."

That was a plausible concern. Diana spent lots of time with Cassie and was constantly going down to Scott and Quill's floor to spend time with her. The couple were thankfully careful about keeping their bedroom activities in their bedroom because of it, but there was a time that Diana almost walked in on them. Thankfully FRIDAY understood that what was happening definitely shouldn't be seen by young eyes and stopped the elevator, and managed to convince the little girl that she was incorrect about Cassie's location and took her back up to the family floor. Stephen and Tony had told Diana that she needed to ask FRIDAY or Victor if it was okay to go downstairs from then on.

"Why don't you ask? If you can go look, maybe you can take your coloring books downstairs and spend time with Cassie." Stephen suggests, but it was only met with a grumpy expression.  
"I wanna stay with you!"  
Stephen sighs. "Alright. Find your crayons first though."

Diana nods and asks FRIDAY to check and make sure she can go downstairs to look for her crayons in Cassie's room, and quickly got the go ahead from the AI. Stephen didn't even hope that Diana would get distracted and change her mind about staying with Cassie because she was stubborn. Like Tony. Once she made up her mind, that was it. Now Stephen would have to entertain _two_ young children and one of them was sugar high. He didn't mind when the kids weren't full of sugar, but when they were, he felt like he could only handle one child at a time. Any normal day, he could wrangle all three without blinking.

He was so far into this mom role that being called Dad would confuse him. Peter tried before just to see how he would react and Stephen didn't even turn his head. He automatically assumed Peter was talking to Tony.

The elevator slides open minutes later and Stephen looks up to find Quill walking out holding Diana like a football. The little girl giggling madly with a box of crayons in her hands as the celestial carried her into the living room.

"You went downstairs for crayons Diana. Why did you come back with your Uncle Quill?" Stephen asks with a smirk.  
Starlord snorts. "I've been kicked out until further notice."  
Stephen stands and grabs Peter from Levi when the baby stops giggling. "What did you do?"  
"Apparently I'm a walking furnace and Scotty isn't feeling good right now. Neither is Cassie. I think they have the cold." 

Quill sets Diana on the ground and she disappears up into her room temporarily to grab her coloring books. She returns with a couple of books in her hands and spreads them out on the coffee table with her crayons, and Quill collapses onto the couch and turns on the tv. Diana actually grabbed a second book with her brother in mind, and miraculously Peter was all for coloring. So Stephen had set the baby down by the table to color and sat on the couch next to Quill, handing the requested colors to the kids when they asked for them. Or in Peter's case, whatever color Stephen grabbed first. He didn't care about specific colors.

The sugar wore off about half an hour into the coloring session, and Stephen soon found Peter curled up on the floor fast asleep. He had taken to watching tv when his fingers started to cramp, so looking down to find Peter snoozing on the ground had been a pleasant surprise. He didn't want to risk picking him up, so he grabbed a pillow to slip under the baby's head, and Levi was more than happy to settle over him as a makeshift blanket. The cloak was always happy to help the kids. It _loved_ the kids. It was as protective of them as Stephen was.

"Can I have a snack?" Diana asks quietly and Stephen looks at the time displayed on the tv. Past three. Dinner wasn't for quite some time.  
"What would you like?"   
"Cheese and crackers?" His daughter questions and the sorcerer nods as he gets up and makes his way to the kitchen.

Not only did he make Diana her cheese and crackers, but he also added some grapes for her to munch on (she loved grapes, specifically the green ones), he grabbed a beer for the pirate on the couch, and chocolate truffles for himself. Now that Peter had burned through the sugar in his system, Stephen needed some of his own. Once he returned to the living room with snacks and a drink, he gave Diana her requested food, relinquished the beer to the celestial who took it with a thanks, and Stephen settled back onto the couch with his truffles. He almost moaned at the first bite. Chocolate was one thing he selfishly indulged in and he never ran out because Tony always made sure his favorites were stocked. Surprisingly, no one ever tried to swipe his chocolate, but he wasn't about to complain.

So he enjoyed his chocolate as he watched tv.

At least until he caught Quill giving him a weird look.

"What?"  
Quill turns his attention back to the tv and takes a couple gulps of his beer before answering. "Nothing. I'm just wondering if you charge people to watch you eat chocolate."  
Stephen could practically hear and feel his mind skid to a screeching halt. "What do you mean?"  
"The way you eat chocolate is really--" The Celestial pauses and glances down at Diana, and then up at Stephen. "It's kind of suggestive."

Stephen opens and closes his mouth like a fish as he processes Quill's words, and then suddenly, everything clicked into place. Peter and Harley always looked embarrassed. The team always had smug looks on their faces if they weren't sidling up to him and pointing out any bits of chocolate he missed...and Tony? Really, he felt stupid for not seeing it. Tony _always_ manhandled him into their bedroom to have his way with him. Stephen couldn't believe how oblivious he had been, and everyone was having fun with it. Quill was the only one who hadn't seen the sorcerer with his chocolate and he was blunt enough to point out that he was indulging in the delicacies like a starved whore.

Well now he was going to have _his_ fun.

"We never had this conversation." Stephen says with just the slightest smug smile and Quill stares at him for a beat before grinning.  
"Dude, I'm just talking to you about this pretty fucking awesome movie I saw the other night."  
Diana gasps and looks up at Quill. "Uncle Quill! That's a bad word!"

Stephen laughs as Diana reprimands the pirate for his language, and then laughed even harder when Quill had looked incredibly lost. A grown man was being scolded by a five year old and he wasn't quite sure how to deal with it. So he just ended up sinking into the couch and finishing his beer in silence after Diana was through with him. Peter had meanwhile woken up from his short nap, Levi floating up and away to its usual corner of the living room, and Diana pushes her plate of snacks closer to her brother to share. Stephen immediately took the grapes when the baby reached for them and bit off half of one before offering the other half to Peter. The baby takes it happily and munches on his half of the grape and Stephen continues to offer the other half of the grape to Peter while giving whole ones to Diana when she requests it. Quill once again gives him another look, but this time it was amusement.

"You really are a mom."  
"Peter could choke otherwise." Stephen says as Peter reaches for a cracker instead.  
"That's what I'm saying. Before Yondu kidnapped me, I saw other moms do that for their kids...and I'm sure my mom did it for me too." Quill smirks. "Do you lick your thumb to wipe away dirt smudges too?"  
"It's gross." Diana confirms and Stephen turns bright red when Quill howls with laughter.  
"Shut up." He grabs the god's empty beer can and chucks it at Quill's head. 

The outlaw's laughter did eventually die down into occasional snickers, and then he finally settled. When he did, he actually leaned forward to color with the kids when Diana and Peter asked him to join, and Stephen slyly had Victor take a picture and send it to Scott. It would hopefully be something to lift his spirits since he was feeling under the weather.

"Look at you Porcupine. Embracing your inner child?" Tony says as he and Harley step off the elevator and Quill responds by throwing a crayon at the engineer.  
Stephen was too busy glaring at Harley to see where it had landed. "I should put you on diaper duty for giving Peter sugar."  
Harley pales instantly. "NO! MOM! I'm sorry! Please don't make me do that! That's totally weird and I will never be able to look at him the same way again!"  
"Then don't do it again."   
"Harley! Come color with us!" Diana half demands of her older brother and he sighs when Peter echoes her.  
"Color!"  
"Okay, fine." The teen sighs as he joins his siblings at the coffee table.  
"Look, if I have to color, you have to too." Quill points his crayon at Harley.  
"What does it look like I'm doing Spacecase?"  
"_Harley_." Stephen scolds and the teen grumbles as Tony sits on one of the adjacent couches.  
"Sorry."


	6. Chapter 6

When Peter finally had his tantrum, it was surprisingly at the end of the first week, and neither Stephen nor Tony had been home. Natasha and Bucky were babysitting, and after some unsuccessful attempts to calm the crying baby, Natasha finally figured out that it wasn't exactly a tantrum. The pieces fell into place for her when Peter shied away from touch and curled up into a ball. Peter was going through a sensory overload but he didn't know how to tell them that because he didn't even understand. Toddler Peter was just overwhelmed and Natasha and Bucky did everything they could to make the baby comfortable. Nat asked FRIDAY to activate Peter's sensory overload protocol, and that helped darken the room and make everything a bit quieter, and Bucky ran up to the boy's bedroom to grab his teddy bear. Since Levi was with Stephen, they hoped the teddy bear was soft enough not to aggravate Peter's senses, and thankfully it did help. The baby curled up against the bear, his cries softened to sniffles and the occasional whimper, and his two temporary guardians gave him enough space that their natural smells wouldn't overwhelm him. Only Stephen could get close when Peter had a sensory attack.

Bucky, as quietly as humanly possible, got some water in a sippy cup for Peter and only got close enough to give it to the baby before retreating again. The overload protocol would prevent anyone else from entering the family floor until Peter was feeling better, Tony being the only one able to bypass the protocol. Stephen could too, but he usually just portaled onto the floor so it didn't matter to him. FRIDAY probably alerted Victor to the protocol because when Stephen got home, he didn't portal into the living room like he normally did, he came out of the master bedroom. Levi immediately flew from its master's shoulders to gently scoop up Peter and his teddy bear and deposited both into Stephen's waiting arms when he made it down to the living room.

Peter was instantly calmer.

"How long?" Stephen asks quietly.  
"About an hour." Natasha whispers. "We did what we could to get him comfortable."  
Bucky frowns. "We're not sure what set it off though. He was playing with his legos and then suddenly started freaking out."  
"Doctor, I believe the effects from the alien tech are wearing off." Victor says through the tower as quietly as possible. "He could change back to his normal form by the end of the day."

All three adults sighed with relief. Natasha and Bucky relieved that they didn't do anything wrong to make Peter uncomfortable, and Stephen because they knew the trigger. He loved Peter and Diana as babies, but he knew it wouldn't last. Harley was the only one who hadn't been turned into a baby and he kind of had mixed feelings about it. Right now he was focused on Peter. He wouldn't have much more time to have with a baby cub so after thanking Natasha and Bucky, he takes Peter up to his bedroom, asking FRIDAY to keep the protocol to the teen's bedroom and allowing her to open up the rest of the floor again. Tony was at meetings all day again, Diana was probably downstairs with Cassie, and Harley was likely wreaking havoc with his friends.

That left Stephen to sit with Peter and care for him until he turned back, assuming Victor was correct. The baby was more than happy to spend the rest of the day with mom as sticking magnets on Bucky's arm was getting old. So they spent the rest of the day playing once Peter sufficiently recovered from his sensory overload. He was a little sleepy afterwards, but not enough for a nap and they played with legos instead. Stephen would smile softly whenever Peter got excited enough about _something_ that any words were turned into a jumbled mess and completely incoherent. Whatever. As long as Peter was happy.

It happened just before Tony came home from his meetings. Peter soon got tired of legos and Stephen sat on the bed with him to watch movies, and the baby had crawled under the covers. The sorcerer stayed on top of the blankets, and dozed off in the middle of their third movie when he woke with a start when he felt himself being lightly shaken. He turns his head to figure out what Peter might need and blinks when he finds the _teenager_ staring right back. Stephen recovers quickly and looks over at the clock sitting on his son's desk, soft blue numbers telling him that it was around dinner time. He could even smell dinner, and he guessed that Bucky had made something because it definitely didn't smell like takeout.

"Uh...Mom?"  
Stephen looks back at Peter. "Yes?"  
"What are you doing in my room?" Peter looks up at the tv and furrows his brows in confusion when he finds it replaying the menu of a Disney movie. "I don't remember watching this."  
"What do you remember?" Stephen asks curiously and the teen rubs his face as he pushes his blankets away.

Thankfully Stephen had the mind to cast a small spell that would dress the teen as soon as he changed back.

"I was on patrol, and I was talking care of some guys with--" Brown eyes narrow and he peeks over at the sorcerer. "I was a baby again wasn't I?"  
Stephen chuckles. "I see you don't remember any of that time."  
"How long?" Peter asks suspiciously, and really, he had every right to be. Last time he was a baby, Stephen purposely dragged it out.  
"A week. Not because of me though." He replies quickly when Peter opens his mouth to possibly scold him.  
"Man...a week of my summer. Gone."  
"You'll live. I think Bucky made dinner if you're hungry. At least I'm assuming so by the smell."  
Peter tilts his head, listening for whoever was downstairs, and then nods. "Starving."

Peter and Stephen climb off the bed and make their way down to the kitchen and the teen is immediately glomped onto by Cassie. Stephen chuckles as he takes his spot at the table while the female looks over her boyfriend and thanks Bucky when the man serves him dinner.

"I'm so glad you're back to normal. It was so weird seeing you as a baby that I couldn't even look at you!" Cassie admits dramatically.  
"Gee, thanks." Peter says with a roll of his eyes as they sit at the table.  
Harley rolls in moments later and slumps into his seat at the table, half-heartedly batting away Stephen's hand when he reaches out to examine his black eye. "I didn't get into a fight. I promise."  
"What happened then?" Stephen asks skeptically.  
"Baseball to the face."  
"You're supposed to catch the ball you moron." Peter snarks and Harley flips him off.  
"Nice to see you back to normal asshole."

Stephen was pretty sure he had his exasperated Mom Sigh down. If he didn't, he would be surprised.

"Enough. Eat. Cassie, where are your parents?"  
The girl actually cringed at Stephen's question. "Downstairs. They'll be up eventually."  
"Mommy! Me and Cassie went shopping today!" Diana announces between mouthfuls of food and Stephen raises an eyebrow.   
"By yourselves?"  
"No. We dragged Papa with us." Cassie answers with a smirk, and then it was Peter's turn to cringe.  
"Poor Quill."  
Cassie giggles. "He wandered off to another part of the store when Dia and I started looking at clothes."  
"No meltdown this time?" Stephen asks with a smirk.  
"Not that we know of."  
"Oh ha ha. It's pretty low to make fun of someone who's been living in space for the past thirty years." Quill says as he and Scott step off the elevator.

Even Tony was with them and he lamented when he saw Peter back to normal. He eventually muttered a few sentences in Italian before planting a kiss on the crown of his head and joins everyone at the table. Peter ate _a lot_ that night to make up for his recent toddler appetite, and the kids watched a movie with dessert before retiring for bed. Cassie stayed up on the family floor in Diana's room, and the boys went into their respective rooms before Tony and Stephen were roped into a night of drinking.

Stephen definitely needed it but he stopped once he got tipsy. He didn't want to be drunk for what he wanted to do, and that consisted of chocolate truffles. Tony's eyes immediately dilated when the sorcerer took his first bite, and Quill gave him a knowing look as he tossed back a shot of whiskey and threw his arm around Scott. The thief wasn't as affected by Stephen's show as he used to be, but he did squirm a little bit. For once, Quill didn't get jealous. He just smirked. Tony was Stephen's main focus though and he ate his chocolate as lewdly as possible without giving himself away. 

He started as he usually did. Biting into his chocolate and licking up any of the melted trails on his fingers, but Tony was remaining steadfast. So Stephen took it up a notch. He threw in a couple of moans here and there (which got a couple of squirms from his husband), and even let the chocolate drip onto his exposed chest. The top few buttons of his shirt were undone earlier in the evening when the alcohol started to warm him up, so the chocolate landed perfectly on pale skin.

When he looked down to wipe up the chocolate with his thumb, he innocently brought it up to his mouth to suck off the sweet melted delicacy and Tony _groaned_. Sam and Clint were sniggering, both pretty wasted at this point, and Quill and Scott were drinking with them. No doubt a pool was already made, but only Quill knew that this was staged.

The final straw was when Stephen let his tongue dart out to get the last bits of melted chocolate off his lips, and Tony had pounced. He spoke lowly in Italian before he was shoving his tongue into the sorcerer's mouth, and the animalistic makeout session was over almost as soon as it started, and Stephen suddenly found himself being dragged up to the master bedroom. He sends a quick wink to Quill and the remaining adults look over at the celestial when the bedroom door closes.

"Wait..." Clint starts. "Does Mama Bear know what he looks like when he eats chocolate?"  
Quill grins. "Oh yeah."  
"Well this just got more interesting." The archer says.  
"Especially since Tony still doesn't know." Sam points out.  
"New pool. How long will it take before Stark figures it out?" Clint asks.  
Scott snorts. "Maybe never. He's too focused on the show."  
"That's true." Sam leans back against the couch.  
"We'll figure out the details later. How about a game of Never Have I Ever?" Clint suggests and Quill groans.  
"I'm going to lose."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh. I'm not real happy with how this played out but I wanted to end it before I ended up abandoning it. Hopefully you guys liked it to some degree lol.


End file.
